U.S. patent application number 11/132328 was filed with the patent office on 2005-12-08 for scanner.
This patent application is currently assigned to BenQ Corporation. Invention is credited to Ma, Hai-Tao.
Application Number | 20050270593 11/132328 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 35448575 |
Filed Date | 2005-12-08 |
United States Patent
Application |
20050270593 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Ma, Hai-Tao |
December 8, 2005 |
Scanner
Abstract
A scanner, including a lever and an elastic support element, is
provided. The lever includes a first part, a second part and a
fulcrum, wherein the first part and the second part are
respectively located at opposed sides with respect to the fulcrum,
and the second part touches against an image sensor module of the
scanner. An elastic force, provided on the first part by the
elastic support element, acts on the second part with respect to
the fulcrum. When scanning, the elastic force is capable of
preventing vertical offset of the image sensor module resulting
from mechanical factor or other unexpected factors. Therefore, the
image sensor module can retrieve clear images all the time.
Inventors: |
Ma, Hai-Tao; (Wu Chung,
CN) |
Correspondence
Address: |
RADER FISHMAN & GRAUER PLLC
LION BUILDING
1233 20TH STREET N.W., SUITE 501
WASHINGTON
DC
20036
US
|
Assignee: |
BenQ Corporation
|
Family ID: |
35448575 |
Appl. No.: |
11/132328 |
Filed: |
May 19, 2005 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
358/474 |
Current CPC
Class: |
H04N 1/1017 20130101;
H04N 2201/0456 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
358/474 |
International
Class: |
H04N 001/04 |
Foreign Application Data
Date |
Code |
Application Number |
May 19, 2004 |
TW |
93114080 |
Claims
1. A scanner, comprising: a window glass; an image sensor module
positioned under said window glass; a carriage configured to bear
said image sensor module; a lever comprising a first part and a
second part, wherein said lever is rotatably positioned on said
carriage and said second part touches against said image sensor
module; and an elastic support element touching against said
carriage and said first part; wherein said elastic support element
provides an elastic force on said first part, and said elastic
force acts on the second part allowing said image sensor module to
keep a constant distance with said window glass as said image
sensor module moves.
2. The scanner of claim 1, wherein said carriage has a hole and
said lever further has a fulcrum, said first part and said second
part are respectively located at opposed sides with respect to said
fulcrum, and said second part passing through said hole for
touching against said image sensor module.
3. The scanner of claim 1, further comprising a smooth element
positioned between said image sensor module and said window glass
for reducing a friction force between said image sensor module and
said window glass.
4. The scanner of claim 1, further comprising a guiding shaft
positioned under said carriage for guiding movement of said
carriage.
5. The scanner of claim 1, wherein said image sensor module
comprises a contact image sensor and a slab, said slab is
positioned under said contact image sensor to touch against said
second part.
6. The scanner of claim 1, wherein said second part comprises a
slab configured to touch against said image sensor module.
7. The scanner of claim 1, wherein said elastic support element is
a spring.
8. The scanner of claim 1, wherein said elastic support element is
a spring leaf.
9. A scanner, comprising: a window glass; an image sensor module
positioned under said window glass; a carriage configured to bear
said image sensor module, said carriage having a hole; a smooth
element positioned between said image sensor module and said window
glass for reducing a friction force between said image sensor
module and said window glass; a guiding shaft positioned under said
carriage for guiding movement of said carriage; a lever comprising
a first part, a second part and a fulcrum, wherein said lever is
rotatably positioned on said carriage, said first part and said
second part are respectively located at opposed sides with respect
to said fulcrum, and said second part passing through said hole for
touching against said image sensor module; and an elastic support
element touching against said carriage and said first part; wherein
said elastic support element provides an elastic force on said
first part, and said elastic force acts on the second part with
respect to the fulcrum to allowing said image sensor module to keep
a constant distance with said window glass as said image sensor
module moves.
10. The scanner of claim 9, wherein said image sensor module
comprises a contact image sensor and a slab, said slab is
positioned under said contact image sensor to touch against said
second part.
11. The scanner of claim 9, wherein said second part comprises a
slab configured to touch against said image sensor module.
12. The scanner of claim 9, wherein said elastic support element is
a spring.
13. The scanner of claim 9, wherein said elastic support element is
a spring leaf.
Description
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application claims priority to Taiwan Patent
Application No. 093114080 entitled "SCANNER", filed on May 19,
2004.
FIELD OF INVENTION
[0002] The present invention generally relates to a scanner, and
more particularly, to a scanner with an elastic support
element.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0003] A scanner with a contact image sensor (CIS), which is able
to transform the image on a medium into digital data for storage or
for further process by a computer, is a popular peripheral.
[0004] The CIS scanner usually comprises a light source, a pair of
focusing lenses, an image sensor and a carriage. However, the
typical focusing range of the CIS scanner module is only 0.3 mm,
i.e. the allowable difference between focal position and actual
position of image is .+-.0.3 mm for a clear capture of image.
Beyond this range, the received image will be blurred and hard to
recognize. The focusing range of the CIS scanner module is so
small, as illustrated in FIG. 1, that the image sensor 105 may not
retrieve clear image as the carriage 101 moves along the guiding
shaft 103, due to the non-smoothness of the guiding shaft 103 or
unexpected vertical offset resulting from other mechanical factors.
To solve this problem, the prior art elastic element 107, being
usually a spring, is provided between the carriage 101 and image
sensor 105. The elasticity of the prior art elastic element 107 is
capable of preventing the vibration during the scanning.
[0005] However, since the space between the carriage 101 and the
image sensor 105 is limited, the size and the elastic force of the
elastic element 107 are limited too, that could reduce the lifespan
of the CIS scanner.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0006] The present invention provides a scanner which comprises a
window glass, an image sensor module, a carriage, a lever and an
elastic support element. The papers or the pictures, which are
going to be scanned, are put on the window glass. The image sensor
module, positioned under the window glass, is configured to capture
the image of the papers or the pictures. The carriage is configured
to bear the image sensor module. The lever, including a first part
and a second part, is rotatably positioned under the carriage, and
the second part touches against the image sensor module. The
elastic support element, touching against the carriage, provides an
elastic force on the first part and then the elastic force acts on
the second part, which can keep a constant distance between the
image sensor module and the window glass as the image sensor module
moves. Consequently, the elastic force is capable of preventing the
unexpected vertical offset due to mechanical factor and therefore
ensures the image sensor module to retrieve clear image all the
time.
[0007] Moreover, the carriage has a hole and the lever further has
a fulcrum. The first part and the second part of the lever are
respectively located at opposed sides with respect to the fulcrum,
and the second port of the lever passes through the hole of the
carriage for touching against the image sensor module.
[0008] The present invention further includes at least a smooth
element positioned between the image sensor module and the window
glass for reducing the friction force between the image sensor
module and the window glass.
[0009] The scanner of the present invention further includes a
guiding shaft positioned under the carriage for guiding movement of
the carriage.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE PICTURES
[0010] The foregoing aspects and many of the attendant advantages
of this invention will become more readily appreciated as the same
becomes better understood by reference to the following detailed
description, when taken in conjunction with the accompanying
pictures, wherein:
[0011] FIG. 1 illustrates a profile of a prior art CIS scanner;
[0012] FIG. 2 illustrates a side view of the first embodiment in
accordance with the present invention;
[0013] FIG. 3 illustrates a perspective view of the first
embodiment in accordance with the present invention;
[0014] FIG. 4 illustrates a magnification of the dotted line region
of FIG. 3;
[0015] FIG. 5 illustrates a side view of the second embodiment in
accordance with the present invention; and
[0016] FIG. 6 illustrates a side view of the third embodiment in
accordance with the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0017] With reference to FIGS. 2 and 3, the first embodiment of the
present invention includes a window glass 201, a contact image
sensor module 203, a carriage 205, a lever 207 and an elastic
support element 209. The papers or the pictures, which are going to
be scanned, are put on the window glass 201 (referring to FIG. 2).
The contact image sensor module 203, positioned under the windows
glass 201, includes a contact image sensor (not illustrated)
configured to capture the image of the papers or the pictures. The
carriage 205, with a hole 211, is configured to bear the contact
image sensor module 203. The lever 207 includes a first part 213, a
second part 215 and a fulcrum 217, and furthermore the first part
213 and the second part 215 are respectively located at opposed
sides with respective to the fulcrum 217, and the second part 215
passes through the hole 211 of the carriage 205 for touching
against the lower side of the image sensor module 230. The elastic
support element 209, which will go into details as below, touches
against the lower side of the carriage 205 and the first part
213.
[0018] The embodiment further includes at least two smooth elements
219 (referring to FIG. 2) which are positioned between the two
upper sides of the contact image sensor module 203 and the window
glass 201. The smooth element 219, made of low friction-coefficient
material, is configured to reduce the friction force between the
contact image sensor module 203 and window glass 201 when scanning.
It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the
number and the shape of the smooth element 219.
[0019] The embodiment further includes a guiding shaft 221
(referring to FIG. 3) which is positioned under the carriage 205.
The carriage 205 has a bulge 223 with shape allowing coupling with
the guiding shaft 221. By the coupling of the bulge 223 with the
guiding shaft 221, the carriage 205 can move horizontally while
scanning. It should be noted that the present invention is not
limited to the shape and structure of the bulge 223.
[0020] FIG. 4, which is a magnification of the dotted line region
of FIG. 3, illustrates the connection and the interaction between
the lever 207 and the elastic support element 209. As shown in FIG.
4, the embodiment further includes a first positioning block 225
and a second positioning block 227 for fixing the position of the
elastic support element 209. The elastic support element 209,
touching against the lower side of the carriage 205 and the upper
side of the first part 213, provides a downward elastic force (as
the arrow shows) on the first part 213, and the elastic force
generates an upward action force (as the arrow shows) on the second
part 215 due to function of the fulcrum 217 of the lever 207. The
action force applies on the contact image sensor module 203, which
can keep a constant distance between the image sensor module 203
and the window glass 201 as the image sensor module 203 moves.
Consequently, the elastic force is capable of preventing the
unexpected vertical offset due to mechanical factors and therefore
ensures the image sensor module 203 to retrieve clear image all the
time.
[0021] In this embodiment, the elastic support element 209 is a
spring. However, the present invention is not limited to the
structure of the elastic support element 209, other structure, such
as a spring leaf or a torsion device, also included in the present
invention.
[0022] FIG. 5 depicts the second embodiment of the present
invention. In this embodiment, a contact image sensor 501 and a
slab 503, which does not appear in the first embodiment, are
included in the contact image sensor module 203. The contact image
sensor 501 is configured to capture the image of the papers, and
the slab 503, whose area is similar to that of bottom of the
contact image sensor 501, is positioned on the lower side of
contact image sensor 501 for touching against the second part 215.
Because the slab 503, having appropriate hardness, is positioned
between the contact image sensor 501 and the second part 215, the
slab 503 is capable of preventing the contact image sensor 501 and
the second part 215 from touching against each other, to avoid
damaging of the contact image sensor 501.
[0023] FIG. 6 depicts the third embodiment of the present
invention. In the third embodiment, different from the first
embodiment, the second part 215 includes a slab 601 whose size is
similar with that of the bottom of the contact image sensor module
203. Hence, the slab 601 of the second part 215 provides enough
contact area as it touches against the contact image sensor module
230, and therefore the contact image sensor module 230 won't
vibrate. As a result, the quality of scanning is assured.
[0024] Although the specific embodiments of the present invention
have been illustrated and described, it is to be understood that
the invention is not limited to those embodiments. One skilled in
the art may make various modifications without departing from the
scope or spirit of the invention.
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